Operation :ReStart:
by Timido Amore
Summary: The last remaining country will earn "The Cure"   Losing countries will be "quarantined"   Escaping is not an option.  Surviving is not an option.  The only option you have...   Is to live or die.
1. All I See Is 'X'

**THE LAST REMAINING COUNTRY WILL RECEIVE "THE CURE".**

**LOSING COUNTRIES WILL BE "QUARENTINED".**

**ESCAPING IS NOT AN OPTION.**

**SURVIVING IS NOT AN OPTION.**

**THE ONLY OPTION YOU HAVE…**

**IS TO LIVE OR DIE.**

**EACH COUNTRY WILL HAVE A REPERSENATIVE**

**WHO WILL COMPETE IN THE M.A.Z.E PROGRAM**

**IF THEY REFUSE TO COMPETE THEY WILL BE**

**ELIMINATED.**

Feliciano clutched the flyer so tight his knuckles turned white,

"Fratello…MAZE is coming to Italia." He said in a soft, calming voice.

Feliciano's older twin, Lovino, turned to his brother like he was a mental retard.

"Che…? Vene, don't make jokes like that." Lovino went back to painting the required red 'C' over their door frame. 'C'; for 'Clean'.

Half of Earth had fallen to a fatal virus, only referred to as '_The Epidemic_'. A scientist from America claimed to have 'The Cure' for the virus- but his mind became corrupted, and paranoid. He was afraid that someone would kill him for the cure. The scientist spent the rest of his lifetime building a giant maze, full of death traps and torture cells, monsters and the worst thing anyone could imagine. But at the end of the maze; was the cure.

Lovino watched idiots from his own country being chosen as representatives for the program, and later he watched a blue 'X' being painted across everyone's door. Lovino knew what the 'X' meant, and he wasn't thrilled about it- because the blue paint was considered a grave stone for the rep's who never made it out of the maze alive.

Lovino and his brother had to be the two last living, breathing, people in Italy. And MAZE flyers were only sent out to the next representatives. He knew his brother would never lie, but being ignorant could possibly spare him a few more precious seconds of life.

"Well, who's going?" Feliciano said quietly. Lovino sighed because he knew what his brother would say if he didn't go; 'Do you want me to be killed, fratello?'

Honestly, Lovino wasn't ready to die yet, either.

Antonio stared in disbelieve at his country.

'X'

'X'

'X'

'X'

'X'

'X'

'X'

'X'

'X'

Bright blue paint, dripping wet from every single door frame in Spain.

Except his.

Yes, Antonio was going to die in the MAZE program. Yes, he couldn't hide.

Yes, he was the only living Spaniard on earth.

And his mother had caught the virus. Antonio sobbed into his hands; he was going to get the cure, and come home to save his Mami. He would come home a national hero, but if he died…Spain would be quarantined, his mother, family, everyone, would be killed off in a last minute attempt to "black out" the virus.

Antonio clutched the flyer, turned on his heel, and ran for his life.


	2. May The Best Man Win

Lovino stared in awe at the boy in front of him. His eyes were emerald and sparkling with fear, he was pale in terror-but his skin was a creamy, sun-kissed, tan. The boy's brown locks curled slightly around his head, his shirt was damp with sweat and clinging to his chest- showing off his well polished abs.

Lovino felt weak and small compared to the stranger. He never bothered to exercise; seeing how costly a good gym membership in Italy was; ("Are there even gyms in Italia? And who needs to go anyway when they have an A+ in the looks department like me?" was usually his reply to anyone who brought up exercise,) and he was almost a foot shorter than the other boy.

Of course, he had the given Italian charm, tan, and eyes; (bright olive,) but he felt so…average…he—

"Lo siento, I-I didn't see you there!"

("Stupid four-inch-height-difference.")

Lovino stuck out his hand and felt his face turn pink. "C-ciao; Lovino Romano Vargas."

The boy looked surprised for a moment before shaking back and smiling, "Hola; Antonio F.C."

"F.C.? Whatever, bastard. Are you (gay) European?"

Antonio smiled so large Lovino could see his face muscles screaming bloody murder.

"Si! I'm (gay) European~ Espana. And you?~"

Lovino felt his heart flutter.

"I-Italy. I uh…liked how you kicked around those balls at FIFA-"

Antonio raised an eyebrow at 'balls'. Lovino started babbling about cleavage and other unique female traits to try and distract Antonio away from the amazingly gay comment.

"I-I'm going to win MAZE, too." Antonio said slowly. Lovi noticed he was staring at his- no, Antonio wouldn't be interested in his—

"No your not! I am damnit, I have a little brother who needs to live- and so do I!"

Antonio smiled. "Your so cute, Lovi~" he leaned down and kissed Lovino- right on the lips.

Romano stuttered, and pushed Antonio away. "What the hell! I JUST MET YOU! A-AND I'M NOT GAY!"

Antonio smiled and brushed the hair out of Lovino's face.

"Si…but if I'm going to die in MAZE I at least wanted to have my first kiss."

"W-what? You…would die for me…? But you just met me-!"

"But your so cute-!"

Lovino turned around, "LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE! I'M NOT GAY ANTONIO AND I'M NOT CUTE! Don't die for me, it's stupid. Because if I had the choice I would kill you LIKE THAT!"

A look of sorrow spread over Antonio's face. "I'm sorry, Lovi. May the best man win~"

And with those eight words, Lovino Romano Vargas was head over heals in love.


	3. Welcome to the MAZE, gentlemen

The arena was huge, that went without saying.

The maze, however, was the width of twelve skyscrapers laid next to each other and the height of three great walls of China. Lovino (Or Romano, as we will refer to him from this point on,) was honestly amused at how much time this scientist must've had on his hands to build it. Romano slowly walked inside the arena. It was packed full of people who all watched him enter with wide eyes.

'They just get scrawny now, don't they?'

'Spain's representative seems pretty fit. Maybe the Italians had nobody else to send?'

'He won't last a day'

'Disgusting'

'Vermin, that's what he is'

'A street rat!'

Romano felt like crying under everyone's intense stare. He could hear what they muttered about him over and over. If he wasn't wailing so loudly he would be cussing them out by now.

'He's crying?'

'Someone tell him to stop making that AWFUL noise!'

'Great, this one won't last a SECOND!'

Romano stifled tears and walked over to the registration counter.

"Lovino Romano V-vargas."

The woman behind it typed a few words and looked up at him, "Row eight. Put this on." She handed him a white jumpsuit with a number stitched over the breast, "**I-30,000,999**?" Romano squeaked. The woman looked annoyed. "It's your rank. You are **Italian #30,000,999**." Romano stared in horror. He was the 30,000,999th Italian to be in the arena. Which meant 30,000,999 Italians DIED here.

Suddenly, Romano turned around and bumped into his worst nightmare.

"A-antonio!"

"Huh? Oh hey R….Rudolf, right?~"

"…Romano."

"Oh."

Romano fiddled with the jumpsuit nervously. "Do you r-remember me?"

Antonio laughed, "Of course I do Rudo—Romano!~ You're my competition!~ Sorry about infecting you, but I need to win this for my Mami."

Romano stumbled backwards, Antonio hadn't kissed him because he was 'CUTE'- he was just giving him the virus! And now Romano was going to be killed in quarantine! It wasn't fair!

"You b-bastard! I thought you fucking liked me but you just fucking KILLED ME!" Antonio raised an eyebrow, "Romano those 'quarantine' rumors aren't true. They don't kill you…"

"…What?"

"Si, they take you to A.R.T.I.C. ZONE…it's an area of the maze they isolated. If you have the virus you go there to try and find the cure instead~"

"So if I don't die of the virus I'll die in the maze. Thanks Antonio."

"Now Lovi, you don't HAVE to go yet~ you can always lie about your health~"

"If I wasn't head deep in your Spaniard ass I would kill you right now."

"Now what are you doing in there? I thought you weren't gay~"

"SHUT UP."

Romano turned and stormed away to the changing quarters. Just to avoid anymore Spaniard "parts" flying around in his face- he changed in the girl's quarter.

The jumpsuit was itchy and smelled like dirt. The fourth zero in 'I-30,000,999' was stained red with a single drop of blood. Romano headed out to the large line of people crying and shaking nervously. He stood in line, pretty sure that Row Eight was known as the "Hey-our-country-had-nobody-else-but-these-gay-ass-fucker-wimps-who-fell-in-love-with-that-spaniard-standing-in-row-nine-who-also-tried-to-kill-him-but-then-tried-to-be-caring-and-failed-miserably" line.

Romano poked the shoulder of the man in front of him sharply.

"Oi, shut up. I can't hear myself think (cry)."

The first thing Romano noticed when the boy turned around was his eyebrows.

It looked like a three year old had drawn lines over his forehead and he had been to sad about possibly dying today to notice.

"Hey dude, you have something on your face."

The boy turned around, "My name is ARTHUR, not 'DUDE'. I am from England, and we British have amazingly SEXY facial features like soft eyebrows."

"…Soft—or FLUFFY?~" Romano smirked.

Before Arthur could "shove something fluffy up" his "arse" the line started moving.

Two giant steel doors slid open to reveal the maze. It too, was made of steel. Romano was frightened- he had expected it to be made of grass or plants, but the metal was cold and rusty with blood. It was more terrifying then he thought, even with all the traps and monsters.

He slowly marched in. As soon as everyone was inside the doors slammed close and people broke apart, running left right up down EVERYWHERE like frantic animals on a stampede. As soon as Romano blinked he heard several sharp screams and witnessed blood spurting over a steel wall. A drop landed on his cheeck, cold and wet.

Romano sobbed and slowly walked straight. He barely got four feet when he stopped inches away from a deep pit. Romano could make out a girl with her hair in pigtails impaled on a spike.

A French boy was sobbing on his knees, leaning over and staring into the darkness, while blabbering in vicious French.

"Chelles, C-chelles…mon chéri! Non! Non! Revenir à moi s'il vous plaît je vous en prie!"

Romano took a deep breath and walked around the pit, dead girl, and possibly insane Frenchmen.

He continued walking until he noticed the ground stopped. Below him was a deep hole. He heard shouting coming from it:

"Help me! Some one, aru! 救我吧！我的神病患者做任何事情, aru!"

Romano shuddered. They even dumped you alive, and left you to rot…

He noticed a rope hanging inches away from him; If he swung correctly he would be able to reach the platform on the other side.

Romano – keeping his feet on the ground- reached out his hand and tugged the rope. It fell down, down down, (Followed by a short "Ow, aru! What just hit me, aru?"), and to his surprise; the ground beneath him fell out, too. Romano let out a scream of terror and a yelp of surprise as he fell two feet….three feet….four feet….eight….twenty…and landed face-first on another platform.

The wind was knocked out of him, his face was bruised and his lip was bleeding. But Romano was alive-!

He jumped for joy and noticed a hallway behind him. He peeked inside and took off one of his shoes, throwing it inside. After a few seconds of nothing, he threw the remaining shoe.

Romano heard a sharp 'Clank!' and then fire filled the hallway. When the blaze died down, Romano's shoes were a burnt-rubber-mess. Stepping inside slowly, Romano was careful to not step on the tile his shoe had landed on. When he emerged on the other side his mouth dropped open.

"Antonio? How the fuck did you even-!" but then Romano realized; Antonio wasn't breathing. He was moving and alive, because he turned around, eyes wide and holding his breath. He signaled for Romano to do the same, and quickly. Romano stuck his head back inside the torched hallway and inhaled the air, holding his breath. When he pulled his head out the exit slammed shut like a sliding door. Then, gas filled the room. Romano felt his heart skip a beat and looked to Antonio. Antonio was nodding slowly and signaled for Romano to follow him as he ran through the gas and towards another hallway. After Romano was close to dying they managed to pry open the door, and slam it shut. Antonio gasped for air and then coughed out random gibberish before turning to Romano. "Door…is…air locked…even…though…we…opened…it…gas…won't…get in…breathe…" he said slowly. Romano gasped and started sucking in as much air as possible. He slumped down against the wall and sobbed into his hands.

"MIO D-DIOOOOOO, ANTONIO." Romano threw himself at the Spaniard and clung to him for dear life.

"I would be dead right now if it wasn't for you…how did you know that room was a…"

"It smelled like gasoline."

Romano blinked. "…This room smells that way, t-too."

Antonio grabbed Romano and ran, carrying him bridal style towards the exit. He tossed him outside and dived after him before slamming the door. Seconds later, Romano saw red light flickering from under the door.

"…They gas you, and if you make it out…they burn you?"

Antonio nodded, "If someone inhaled to much poison, but made it out…they would die in the hallway. I guess they burned the body. You're so weak Romano. You should be dead~"

Romano stood up "You need to shut up. I managed NOT to be impaled on a spike, die swinging across some cheap ass rope, and fall to my death ALL BY MYSELF! AND HOW DID YOU EVEN GET HERE? THE ROPE AND ENTIRE PLATFORM FELL. I DON'T THINK A SECOND ONE WOULD GROW OUT OF NOWHERE FOR ME TO USE."

Antonio smiled. Romano stared. "…You didn't."

"I did~ I tore up the platform's support poles and cut the rope. I thought you would die from the fall, but you landed on the platform I was standing on and I was going 'Oh no!' so I ran down the hallway and into the room and…well, here we are."

"YOU WANT ME TO DIE?"

"I told you Romano, may the best man win."

Romano stood up and walked off, turning left, then right, then straight and then climbing up a rope (after testing it,) to find himself on another platform. He could see Antonio's stunned face and he yelled.

"Have fun, bastard. I'm going for the gold!" before turning and walking off.

If he had stayed three seconds longer, Romano would have heard Antonio screaming bloody murder.

"LOVI! DON'T! IT'S A TRAP!"

But it was far too late.


	4. The Alliance Formed Behind The Mirror

Romano remembered when he was little; his grandfather would always kiss his brother and hug him. When Romano noticed his grandfather tucking his brother into bed, he would ask to be tucked in, too. But his grandfather would just shake his head and say "Big boys can tuck themselves in."

Romano remembered when he spent hours writing the Roman alphabet correctly to please his grandfather; but his brother had done the exact same thing in less than forty minutes. It was never fair how when he graduated Elementary his own parents didn't show up, because Romano attended a different school from Feliciano; and Feliciano was graduating the same exact day as Romano.

Romano suddenly remembered crying outside the gym, clutching his graduation cap in his hands tightly. A boy had sat down next to him and started comforting him,

"It's okay. Mi familia didn't make it either," He would say.

Romano would blow his nose into his gown sleeve and cough out,

"At least your family loves you, Toni."

The boy was quiet for a long time before saying, "Hey Lovi, what do you want to be when you grow up?~"

"…H-huh…?"

"I wanna be a…uh…bull fighter-artist-pirate-astronaut-lumber jack-super star~"

"Half those things d-don't even make fucking sense! You would have to ride a bull dressed as an astronaut holding an axe while painting and singing in front of millions of screaming fan girls all at the same time!" Romano was trying to be harsh but actually cracked himself up with his comment.

"I don't give a fuck Toni. I wanna be better then Veneziano, yeah- I wanna be the best mother fucking Italian in the universe!"

The boy broke into giggles, and in no time at all Romano and the boy stopped feeling sorry for their selves and sighed contently.

"Thanks, I really needed a good laugh," Romano whispered. "I guess I can always count on you, right; Antonio?"

Romano sat up, he had passed out in front of a giant mirror. His younger self was staring at him from the other side.

"Wow! Look at me! I'm the 30,000,999th greatest Italian in the world." His reflection retorted coldly. Romano rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and muttered, "You're damn right, kid."

He didn't care about the monster inside the mirror. Romano knew it only wanted to irritate him. Romano also finally knew why he had clung to Antonio, why he had remembered him, felt so shy around him, and loved him…if they had been best friends, what happened…? Why did Antonio pretend to not know Romano, when in reality he did? Why did Antonio kiss Romano, infect him, and try to kill him if he cared for Romano inside? And then the final blow hit him and he turned around to see the same Spaniard he couldn't stop thinking about standing there and staring into the mirror.

With a short glance, Romano saw the boy from his dream and his younger self inside the mirror. There was no doubt who that boy was now…

"Why didn't you tell me…? Why did you try to kill me? What happened Toni? We were best friends!" Romano stood up and stepped towards his ex-friend.

Antonio looked shocked, "No we weren't…that never happened. When I was that age it was an entirely different time period-! Look."

Sure enough, the reflections were wearing clothing from the late 1800s.

Romano graduated far after that.

"It's just a trap…what do we do now…" Antonio muttered into his hand sadly.

Romano suddenly felt chills go up his spine. Antonio didn't know what to do next…?

"This is bad."

"Yeah."

"I don't see any exits besides the rope I climbed up with."

"Yeah…"

"All there is here is this giant fucking mirror—"

"…Break it."

"Already on it, bastard."

Romano closed his eyes and punched the glass, after a few cracks he stepped back.

"Isn't it seven years of bad luck? I don't think we need that in this death trap…"

Antonio pushed Romano down and kicked the mirror so hard it broke in a second.

"Come on, Lovi. We need to get out of here."

Romano looked up in shock, "W-we? You want to…"

"Work together? Si."

"Promise you won't hurt me?"

Antonio smiled that sexy smile and tilted Romano's chin up, staring into his eyes.

"I'll be gentle~"

Romano reddened and slapped his hand away. "Pervert."

After walking for miles Antonio and Romano came to a door. Antonio was quick to walk inside but Romano showed him the 'shoe trick' and saved them from a pit trap full of poisonous snakes.

"Bonjour! Antonio!~"

Romano cringed.

"Dio mio. FRENCH." He snarled, spinning around just in time to see the Frenchmen from before.

"Oh, how rude. Call me Francis, Francis Bonnefoy~" Francis flipped his blonde hair and winked at Antonio. Romano was busy yanking Francis's "prissy blonde hair out!" when an old fluffy friend pulled him back.

"AH A MONSTER. Oh, it's just Arthur." Romano snickered, but then Antonio screamed, "ARTHUR? AH, A MONSTER!~"

Arthur snorted and stood in front of Francis, "I heard you two talking while I was following you. Either you had sex or formed an alliance, and either way Francis, Alfred, and I want in."

Antonio looked confused. "Alfred?"

As soon as the name was spoken a blonde boy jumped out of nowhere and screamed "HERO! ALFRED F. JONES AT YOUR SERVICE! Arthur are you talking about five-ways again? Dude get a girlfriend…" (To this comment Arthur started going off about the American Revolution while Francis babbled about his many five, six, and…t-ten-ways.)

Antonio beamed, "Sure you can all join us~ but you should know I have the virus."

Everyone stared with open mouths, except Romano, who was facepalming.

"You FUCKING IDIOT. There goes our extra help getting out of here-"

"You know,~" Francis began, "I heard the cure was really in the A.R.T.I.C.-ZONE~"

Antonio laughed, "How ironic would that be? All these people dying in the wrong maze~"

Suddenly everyone stopped smiling, laughing, discussing baby making, and checking out Antonio's baby MAKER (Only Romano was doing that last thing…I hope…)

"You know," Arthur said slowly, "That rumor might actually be true."

_Now,_ Romano thought, _Things aren't going so well anymore._


	5. Eurceht

Since the "idea" surfaced Romano had been feeling queasy. Did they really risk their lives for nothing?

Was this maze just a decoy for the A.R.T.I.C-Z.O.N.E; and was the cure there, too?

Their small group of five became a group of ten quickly. Antonio, (who turned out to be old friends with Francis,) saved an albino boy named Gilbert from an acid-induced death. And it just so happened that Gilbert was another long lost friend of Antonio's; so Romano couldn't deny letting the "stupid acid-potato sucker" into the group.

Then, Gilbert insisted on dragging along his "Bitch", which turned out to be a shy Canadian boy named…

…Marcus? Matt? …Yeah, something like that.

After a few more days of wondering around and avoiding certain death; Romano tripped over a Japanese boy named Kiku who was playing _Pocket Monsters: Emerald_ on his GBA.

Evidentially, Alfred forced Kiku to join the team so he could play it instead.

Romano was about to pound Arthur's face into his skull around the eighth day when Antonio screamed:

"EVERYONE, LOOK!"

Everyone did. It was a little girl, dressed in rags. She had her hair in braids and was holding a giant stuffed elephant.

Romano had to let her into the group because Antonio tried to murder anyone who "would dare leave this ADORABLE LITTLE CHILD TO DIE."

She didn't talk anyway.

She only stared at everyone with a look of complete admiration. Especially Antonio.

…Probably because of his hot Spaniard ass.

Things like this kept happening until the group was complete:

Romano

Antonio

Francis

Arthur

Alfred

Gilbert

Matthew (OH YEAH!-THAT WAS HIS NAME!)

Kiku

The little girl

Yao (The Chinese man Romano heard screaming "ARU" in the pits.)

Out of everyone in the group, the girl was the most mysterious.

She didn't know English.

Kiku seemed to speak the language she spoke, ("She speaks Elvin," he said, to which Romano replied; "Pfft. Nerdy-bastard." )

The Japanese boy insisted that her name was Eurceht.

Antonio demanded everyone call her "Cehttie" from that point on.

Cehttie seemed to like her new name, after all.

-A-U-T-H-O-R-'-S-N-O-T-E:-

Thank you all for reading this far, and for not imploding when I got writer's block for a week or two.

I'd also like to say this now: I do not own APH.

And now I finished the team with my very own personification of SOMETHING, (Not a country,) Cehttie.

And, Eurceht means something IMPORTANT in the story, but don't put to much thought into it.

Life's always a little more fun with a few surprises.

~Timi


End file.
